A suicide bomber in Turkey attacked the American embassy in Ankara, Turkey. The attack killed both the bomber and a Turkish security guard. Other injuries were reported. While no one has claimed responsibility the Turkish government believes the attack was likely the work of a domestic militant group. [Turkish Interior Minister] Guler said “preliminary information” [...]

The crisis between Turkey and Syria intensified today. Turkey’s top military commander warned the Syrians that his country would “respond more strongly” to persistent cross-border attacks that have already killed a handful of Turkish nationals. Turkey has already responded with shelling against targets inside Syria. This threatens opening up a second front in Syria’s civil [...]

Turkey’s Parliament approved military action against Syria yesterday, though they downplayed it as not a prelude to an invasion or a “war mandate.” But while Syria apologized for cross-border shelling that killed five in Turkey and drew this response, the Turkish military fired over the border for a second day, as the Turkish Prime Minister [...]

Meanwhile, we had cross-border acts of war administered yesterday between a NATO ally and their neighbor. Turkey struck with artillery strikes on Syria yesterday, after one of their border towns was hit with a mortar, killing 5 Turks. This has the potential to escalate very quickly. Turkey stepped up retaliatory artillery strikes on a Syrian [...]

Observers are bracing for what many believe could be a massacre in the Syrian city of Aleppo, the biggest by population in the country. Regime war planes have already bombed the city where rebels have assembled in an attempt to take and hold ground. Now artillery shelling is taking place, according to the rebels, and [...]

That fear of escalation between Syria and Turkey grew stronger today, as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Syria as “a clear and imminent threat,” promising to retaliate for a downed Turkish jet, and warning the Syrians about approaching the Turkish border. In his most outspoken criticism of the Damascus regime, Erdogan vowed to [...]

Turkey has requested that NATO consider the attack on one of their planes by Syria as an attack on the entire NATO alliance, which could lead to a major regional escalation. Syria downed the Turkish jet late last week, and while the Syrians reportedly apologized for their actions, today they reacted by denying that they [...]

This is pretty much what I expected when violence from Syria moved across the border to Turkey. I mentioned that Turkey was a NATO member. And now the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is hinting at NATO member obligations: “We have many options. A country has rights born out of international law against [...]

The main point I wanted to get across in this post was that the idea that Syria would agree to a UN-brokered cease-fire was really wishful thinking. And sure enough, over the weekend, the Syrian regime figured out an excuse to stop implementation of the cease-fire. They simply added an additional demand, seeking written guarantees [...]

I think you have to take what David Ignatius writes with a grain of salt sometimes. But I will note that the war fever over Iran’s nuclear program has subsided somewhat. And now, this: President Obama has signaled Iran that the United States would accept an Iranian civilian nuclear program if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei [...]

Earlier this week, Hillary Clinton made the case that the President calling for Bashar al-Assad to step down from power in Syria would be ineffectual: “It’s not going to be any news if the United States says, ‘Assad needs to go.’ Okay, fine, what’s next?” asked Clinton, who spoke before a room packed with service [...]